Success!

[blito]

Hi all
just thought i`d share a little success story with you all. As you may know i joined this forum late last summer at a point where i was starting to become interested in this grow-your-own business.
Well, this year im going about things in a more serious manner than before, having aquired a greenhouse and a shed over winter, and discovering that the wild bushes that make up the final 10 feet of garden actually contain no less than 7 plum trees! Needless to say i`ve cleared the other bushes but left the trees in - my own mini orchard!
However what i`m proudest of is my own saved seeds - french climbing beans and "tesco finest" chillies!. I grew the beans last year (variety unknown - they cost £1.29 from wilko is all i remember) and managed to save a few seed pods for this year and they`ve germinated well. The Chilli seeds came from a random-variety-from-the-green-counter-at-tesco chilli. I scraped the seeds out before cooking the chilli and dried them for 2 days on kitchen paper on the window sill before potting them in compost in the greenhouse. Taken 3 weeks to germinate but they`re going strong.

Now, question time, anyone like to hazard a guess what varieties these seedlings will be?

[Two_Sheds]

they will be Tesco Chilli

... and, keep an eye on your plum trees - they may not fruit at all if they are wild ones. And 7 trees in 10 foot of ground is very closely planted.

Having said that, any tree is lovely and will attract birds and wildlife.

Good work

[walshie]

Blito, Glad to hear of your success. If i find a chillie that i like i always scrape out the seeds and try to grow them, what does it matter what type they are, as long as they taste good and grow well.

I also have a mini orchard in my plot with a couple of apple trees that eventually produce a very good cider, better than bulmers! And i have recently transplanted a plum tree from my garden to my plot so lets hope for the both of us that we get some plums this year!

[bluemoon]

Congratulations, Blito

[blito]

Two sheds - that 10 feet of ground is 10 feet long and 25 feet wide . 2 of the plum trees i already knew about as they fruited in 2007 - my first summer in this house when i sat back and looked at my first garden and thought - wtf is all this jungle going to do! The other 5 plums were hidden by the other bushes (flowering currents mostly i think) which i have since removed.
Plan is to see which trees do best, take out the weaker ones and put in a cherry tree and an apple tree if theres space.

[Eyren]

Well done! I saved loads of peas last year, and this year I'm hoping for a decent crop of French beans so I can save those as well.

The standard fat Tesco chillies look like some kind of jalapeno to me - they're about the right size, shape and hotness. Sometimes you can find out more info about supermarket veg if they've been put on the shelves in their original growers' boxes - worth a peek next time you're in Tesco?

[Nicos]

Sounds like you're doing really well!
The only seeds I've saved from my lottie are nasturtium and marigold seeds and white salsify...I really should get my act together and save a few others!!!

[kate&rob]

i tried to save some peas and beans, left them in the shed at the lottie, next time i went the mice had done agreat job of shelling them and eating the contents, they were good enough to leave the outer shells for me to compost though!

[blito]

ahh, then perhaps an old quality street tin might be usefull for you - i`ve yet to find a rodent with the dexterity to open one of those

[SarzWix]

It's a great feeling when the seeds you've saved yourself start germinating

We've got quite a lot of wild plum trees on some waste-land near us, they've reverted to more of a bullace than a plum (small, hard and a bit bitter) but they are fabulous as a sloe replacement in sloe gin, make a decent wine and they're great for birds. Only time will tell what your mystery plums will produce, a mixture would be nice